Theo and all,
Boy does anyone remember this summer when someone posted about the stock detective writing the bad about INFE????
Take a look at this...
***OT - Sorta***
Stock detective credibility???
Interesting info...
ragingbull.com
The SEC said they are currently reviewing Lichtman's activity.
Hot News!! Stinky Stock Detective
Kevin Lichtman of Axxess Inc. failed to disclose on the web that he was paid pitchman
for
stock that dropped from $2.00 to .02 cents!
What is that saying about throwing stones when you live in a glass house? Well, Kevin
Lichtman of Stock Detective may need to listen to the lesson therein. Why? Guess who
may
be breaking the law while pretending to be the defender of the people. That's right its
Kevin
Lichtman from the infamous Stock Detective web site. Stock Detective is a web site tries
to
dig up dirt on whoever they can. Especially people that dare to talk badly about the site.
One of SD's latest shenanigans has been over disclosure of payments to Licktman by
public
companies. The law is simple on this issue. Section 17b of the Securities Act, requires
paid
stock promoters to disclose the amounts and terms of payments received for their efforts.
We caught a whiff of Lichtman's outrageous hype of bulletin board stock on the Silicon
Investor web site. Paid pitchman Lichtman, made post after post on the website about Spa
Faucet, Inc (OTCBB:DRIP), without disclosing anywhere how much he was paid to hype
the
stock. While Kevin Lichtman was shamelessly pumping Spa Faucet, Inc, the stock
plummeted from $2.00 a share to .02 cent a share. All the while Lichtman passing himself
off
as an independent and impartial stock picker when, in fact, he was nothing more than a
paid
pitch man for DRIP. On July 22nd 1996 or 10:59AM ET on Sillicon Investor, in
Lichtman's
post DRIP is called "Hot Stock of The Week". The same post states "..as word of Spa's
earnings gains a wider audience, share prices are likely to trade at higher multiples". The
only way this stock looked to be trading higher was if you stood on your head. In the post
Lichtman never tells the unsuspecting read that he was paid to pump this stock.
It even seems to us that Lichtman might have been disclosing inside information over the
web before it was announced. On Jul 29th 1996 10:06AM ET Lichtman wrote in his SI
thread
"I hope to see some news from Spa shortly on a big increase in product orders." Was
Kevin
spreading inside information that he received as the company's paid puff peddler?
Lichtman kept on posting. The following are some of his attempts to pump up the stock;
January 13 1997 Lichtman wrote; "To: Kevin Lichtman From: Kevin Lichtman. New web
site
for Spa and other items of interest. Spa Faucet has its own web site at
spafaucet.com While still under construction it is an excellent place to learn
more
about the company. In fact, they are putting up an electronic catalog of all their products.
Make sure you have your monitor set on "thousands" of colors for MAC or 64,000 for
PC's.
Also, Spa will make a presentation tomorrow at the monthly forum of the New York
Society of
Securities Analysts and 2nd quater results should be announced soon showing additional
progress."
January 16 1997 he wrote; "To: Ernie Miller From: Kevin Lichtman. I did. In fact, I was
there,
at the presentation. Leonardo Sudman was soft-spoken but confident that sales of Spa
Faucet products would continue to rise as the company keeps getting more and more
orders for new products from its major customers, especially Home Depot and Lowes.
Sudman brought several sample faucets in their packaging and I had a chance to examine
them and was VERY impressed with the craftsmanship and styling. These were heavy,
solid
brass fixtures finished impeccably in brilliant polished brass, chrome, 24K gold plated and
porcelin enamel. Very high quality stuff! On an interesting note, one of the analysts
attending
asked Sudman if the major players in his market were aware of Spa Faucet yet - to which
he
replied, absolutly!"
January 16th 1997 he wrote "To: Kevin Lichtman From: Kevin Lichtman. Press release
today. Spa announces purchase of Eco2 owned shares...."
January 29 1997 he wrote, "Free Corporate Profile from Spa Faucet's web site....go to
www.spafaucet.com/freereport.html and fill out the on-line request form."
January 30 1997 he wrote; "Spa is currently "dug-in" with accountants in order to prepare
its
form 10-sb which it plans to submit to the SEC in order to become a "fully reporting"
company. This is also a requirement of listing on AMEX. Hopefully, the bean counters will
emerge soon and we'll be able to access Spa's financials on EDGAR. Second quarter
results should be included in the form 10. The move by the investor group led by Sudman
should send confidence signals to the market. After all, they purchased a huge interest in
their own company in rule 144 resticted shares. As the company's investor relations
contact,
I can tell you that I've already received a few inquiries from investors and market makers
who've picked up on this info and are starting to look into the company. Recently, there
has
been a little short-selling activity and some profit taking from investors who got in last year
at
much lower prices, but it seems to be offset by about an equal amount of new buying at
this
time, resulting in a fairly stable price range. If the company lists on AMEX, short sellers
may
lose interest since the exchange's short selling rules are more restrictive than the
OTCBB's.
Since I can't always keep up with these message boards, I suggest that interested
investors
visit Spa's new web sit at spafaucet.com for news and updates."
March 7th 1997 we found a press release on DRIP with the following contact
information;
CONTACT: Kevin Lichtman, Investor Relations, 407-786-6539, or e-mail,
kevin@magicnet.net
April 8th 1997, Lichtman wrote the following to himself and for the world to see; "To:
Kevin
Lichtman From: Kevin Lichtman, To all. The DRIP-HMAT deal is designed to bring long
term
value to DRIP and HMAT shareholders. How the new preferred shares or the HMAT
common will trade as a result of the announcement is a matter of speculation and, of
course,
market perception."
April 8 1997 he writes "Spa believes that the deal brings significant long-term value to its
shareholders through improved fundamentals and performance. The prospect of a
markedly
enhanced balance sheet and substantially improved earnings could potentially put the value
of Harmat shares (which Spa shareholders are receiving, and will own a majority) at
much
higher levels. My guess is is had Harmat been say...$5....at the date of the announcement,
investors would probably think they had a better deal. However, Harmat's shares, by
nature
of their very small float, are rather illiquid and the company has had virtually no punlic
exposure since it's IPO, which makes for the argument that at today's prices HMAT
shares
are, indeed, undervalued. The expectation is that "two-heads are better than one" and the
combined company will ultimately trade with greater liquidity and at higher multiples than
either did seperately. Also, the path to an exchange listing should be more direct with the
combined companies as HMAT, the acquirer is already a fully reporting company."
April 8 1997 he wrote; " Spa should report its 9 months ending 2/28/97 within a few
weeks.
however, Spa is not a "reporting" company yet and therefore not bound by the same
criteria
as "reporting" companies."
As the stock started to fall, Lichtman seemed to be nowhere to be found. He did'nt even
let
the people listening to his hype know he was leaving and would not return. The following
are
the desperate attempts from people on his thread looking for answers;
May 30 1997 To: Kevin Lichtman. SPA is getting a good ole ### whipping. Do you have
any
thoughts on this. No news and the stock drop. Also any report on earnings coming out
anytime soon? Thanks in advance for your response.
June 17 1997 Kevin, what is going on with our investment I still own drip through eco2 for
now. As an investor I am concerned with my investment in drip lately. Would you please
comment. I would like to know when earnings are due.
August 22 1997 Kevin why aren't you pumping up the stock It needs some air. 60%
growth
and you have nothing to say.
No response from Lichtman, only the sound of air escaping from the stock that he pumped
up with such fervor. We have looked through the whole thread of this site for Lichtman's
disclosure, none could be found. We looked at his profile he filed on the site and no
Disclosure. We did of course find that he was the investor relations guy for this brick. Just
look at the March 7th release there it is big as day.
When we called Lichtman we asked him about DRIP. We asked him if he was paid to
hype
DRIP. Lichtman proudly said "Yes, I was paid only cash!". We then asked him why he
didn't
disclose that over the web. His tone changed. He told us, "What the hell are you trying to
do?". We said we wanted to know why he didn't have to disclose but others do. His
answer ,
"Go F&*% yourself".
This is not the first time Lichtman has been under fire and accused of forgetting to follow
the
law that he pretends to find so sacred. On 12/06/97 DON BAUDER of The San Diego
Union-Tribune wrote a story called "Exposer of stock fraud is itself under scrutiny". The
story
starts out to say "A Florida publisher that specializes in exposing stock market fraud is tied
up in a government investigation of -- you guessed it -- alleged manipulation of its shares."
The story ran after a Dec. 15 1997 Business Week story quoted sources as saying the
stock
of Altamonte Springs-based Axxess Inc. may have been pushed by brokers who were
paid
off.
Axxess is a company with a past that is confusing at best. The company was seemingly
created from a company shell called Peppermint Park Productions, (OTCBB PPPS).
Peppermint Park Productions, Inc. had all but stopped making money and had limited
capital with which to support continuing business operations. The Company changed its
name to Axxess, Inc, and Lichtman was made a director. Then the Company's common
stock was reverse split on a 1-for-25 basis. Next the Company issue one million eight
hundred fifty thousand (1,850,000) shares in the aggregate, to Kevin A. Lichtman , the
incoming Chairman of the Board and President of the Company. In May of 1998 Axxess
was
going to be bought by a bakery, but that fizzled when the bakery could raise the bread
needed for the deal. The company that tried to buy Axxess was a Sacramento company
that
once tried unsuccessfully to cash in on the espresso cafe craze and then turned to the
bakery business and next felt they should try publishing on the Internet. Espresso bar to
Bakery to Internet publishing, What was Lichtman thinking about? In his words in the
article
he states, "Basically, they are getting out of the bakery business and getting into the
electronic publishing business,". Thanks Kevin that makes sense.
At the time of this writing we have supplied the SEC with 132 pages from Kevin's DRIP
thread. The SEC said they are currently reviewing Lichtman's activity.
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